Csaba Sógor: The EU handles the Schengen accession process with double standards
The whole EU is negatively affected by delay of the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen - says the report adopted by the European Parliament on Wednesday. MEP`s reminded the EU institutions in resolutions, that the two countries have already fulfilled in 2011 all the conditions necessary for accession to the Schengen area.
According to Csaba Sógor, the adopted report reveals a double standard judgement which has become more and more common in the EU decision-making over the past period. Concerning the Schengen accession, it seems that the EU’s credibility is put to question when EU decision-making institutions recognize that the two countries have fulfilled the conditions, but the Council of the European Union does not approve the accession - explains the MEP from Transylvania. Csaba Sógor thinks it is very important that the report states: the delay of the accession of these two countries is proof of discriminatory treatment of EU Member States and its citizens.
Csaba Sógor emphasized in the debate at the Strasbourg plenary session, that the creation of the Schengen area is one of the most important achievements of the European integration. “The EU citizens see the borderless area as one of the most popular achievement of the EU. Therefore it is difficult to explain to the citizens of Romania and Bulgaria that 11 years after EU accession, the two countries are still not a member of the Schengen area”- said the MEP in his speech. He added: this is an unfair situation in the EU, not only because both countries have radically transformed their border surveillance system in order to join the Schengen area and heavily invested in strengthening their criminal investigation capacity, but also because the continuous maintenance of border control has negative impact on the economies of the two countries.
The report adopted by the MEP´s on Wednesday states that in 2011 the European Commission closed the Schengen evaluation process for Romania and Bulgaria, according to which the two countries fulfilled the necessary conditions in terms of data protection, air-, sea- and land borders, police cooperation, the Schengen Information System and visas. This document reminds us that the fact that there is no consensus in the Council calls into question the fair application of the fundamental EU treaties and the credibility of the EU.
